Ndebele People Traditions Culture

TRIBES PEOPLE GROUPS -

Ndebele

They are also known as the Matabele or amaNdebele from South
African and Zimbabwe

Although the origins of the South African Ndebele are shrouded in mystery, they have been
identified as one of the Nguni tribes. The Ndebele
people were originally an offshoot of the Nguni people of
KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The language amaNala and amaNzunza are
related to that of the Ndebele people of Zimbabwe.

The Ndebele are a branch of the Zulu's who split from
King Shaka in the early 1820s under the leadership of Mzilikazi, a
former general in Shaka's army. In the 1820's Mzilikazi
over-powered the Manala and decided to settle down with them. After
some time, Mzilikazi became afraid
that Shaka would send an army after him. With a clever plan he lured the Ndebele men away, got the others together and
killed them. He then took the women and livestock and then moved
northwards in 1834 into present-day Zimbabwe where they battled
with the Shona people; eventually carving out a home now called
Matabeleland and encompassing the west and southwest region of the
country and finally settled in Bulawayo in Zimbabwe. That is the
origin of the Ndebele of Zimbabwe.

Many Ndebele became formidable warriors, often
subjugating smaller chiefdom's and assimilating them into Ndebele society, and Ndebele clashed repeatedly with Voortrekker militias around Pretoria in
South Africa. The late nineteenth-century Afrikaner leader Paul
Kruger jailed or executed many of their leaders, seized their land,
and dispersed others to work for Afrikaner farmers as indentured
servants. Some of the land was later returned to a few Ndebele, often as a reward for loyalty or
recognition of status.

Under apartheid, many Ndebele living in the
northern Transvaal were assigned to the predominantly
seSotho-speaking homeland of Lebowa, which consisted of several
segments of land scattered across the northern Transvaal. Others,
mostly southern Ndebele, who had retained more
traditional elements of their culture and language, were assigned
to KwaNdebele. KwaNdebele had been carved
out of land that had been given to the son of Nyabela, a well-known Ndebele fighter in Kruger's time. Ndebele traditionalists, who pressed for KwaNdebele independence through the 1980s, therefore, prized the homeland.

In recent years, the
population of the Ndebele in Zimbabwe has been
diminishing due to the genocide that was carried out by the
Zimbabwean government on the Ndebele and secondly
migrating to other countries, especially South Africa in search of
jobs and as after-effects of the genocide and the economic crisis
that has gripped Zimbabwe since 2000

Crafts

The Ndebele people are well known for their
artistic talent - especially with regard to their painted houses
and colorful beadwork .For over a hundred years, the Ndebele have decorated the outside of their homes
with designs. Multi color wall paintings are painted by using their
fingers, the most frequent theme, as in wall painting, is the
house. Gables, gateways, steps, roofline's and light fixtures may
all be recognized on women's aprons and on walls. These reflect the
domestic interests of women, and may point to aspirations of
idealized homes. The dresses and beautiful decorated homes of the Ndebele people in South Africa are unique in
Africa. Many a fashion model would envy the elegance, color and
presentation of well-dressed Ndebele women. One form of
early design was made with earth pigments, ranging from bright
yellow to brown. The pigments were ground up and mixed with liquid
to form a "paint" that was used to decorate door and window frames,
bordered with charcoal. The earlier patterns are believed, unlike
the more recent painted patterns, to have sacred powers and to have
been made in response to demands by the ancestors

Exclusively the Ndebele women, who are renowned
for their artistic skills, have always done beadwork. Their
beadwork and bead pattern-inspired mural paintings in particular
have become an integral part of Ndebele culture.
The motifs used in beadwork and in wall painting show great
vitality and dynamic response to the changing world around the
artists. Stylized plant forms may express a hope for good harvests
in a dry region.

Colorful dresses, metal rings and beaded hoops are used. The
beadwork is sometimes so elaborate that garments and trinkets can
only be removed by destroying it. The rings around the ankles as
well as necklaces remain there for most of the wearer's life.

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